Page:Flora Australiensis Volume 5.djvu/177

Dysphania.] XCVI. CHENOPODIACEAE. 165 line long. Fruit still shorter, obovoid, somewhat oblique; style 1, very finely filiform and very deciduous. Stamens 1 or 2 but difficult to find, the anthers falling off early from the very minute flowers.

N. Australia. Moist salt places on the N. coast (snatched up in the hurry of escape from an armed native in close pursuit, and never seen again, R. Brown.

S. Australia. Flooded ground S. of Wills Creek, Howitt's Expedition.

3. D. myriocephala, Benth. A diffuse or procumbent glabrous or slightly glandular-pubescent annual, much larger than the two preceding species, although the ascending branching stems rarely exceed 6 in. Leaves petiolate, oblong or lanceolate, obtuse or scarcely acute, rarely above ¼ in. long. Flower-clusters all axillary and distinct, very numerous, occupying the greater part of the plant, globular and scarcely exceeding 1 line in diameter when in fruit, and often much smaller, although containing 10 to 20 or even more flowers, chiefly females, with a very few hermaphrodite or male ones. Segments of the fruiting perianth single and falling off separately, about line long', obovoid-clavate and as it were inflated, shortly contracted at the base. Seed ovoid like that of D. littoralis, but more regular and slightly flattened; styles 2, very fine, but shorter than the single one of D. littoralis. Stamens 1 or 2, with very short broad filaments and comparatively large anthers. — D. littoralis, Moq. in DC. Prod. xiii. ii. 86, not of R. Br.

Victoria. Sandy occasionally flooded banks of the Murray near the junction of the Golgol, F. Mueller.

W. Australia, Drummond, n. 206. Moquin's description is taken from a specimen of Drummond's in which he had correctly observed the two styles, but in which 1 have always found in every cluster as many or nearly as many fruits as enlarged perianth-segments, but as these fall off separately, it is difficult to ascertain whether there may not sometimes be two to one fruit. Moquin in describing three has probably followed Brown's character founded on the true D. littoralis.

4. ATRIPLEX, Linn.
(Obione and Theleopliyton, Moq.)

Flowers unequal. Male perianth nearly globular, deeply divided into 5, rarely fewer segments. Stamens 5 or fewer. Female perianth very small at the time of flowering, 2-toothed or 2-lobed, enclosing the ovary. Styles 2, free or united at the base. Fruiting perianth much enlarged and variously shaped, the tube very small or large, flat or variously thickened, the limb of 2 varioush- shaped segments or vulves closely appressed, at least at the margin (except in A. campamdatd), en- tire or toothed. Fruit entirely enclosed in the tube or between the valves. Pericarp membranous, ver}- thin. Seed compressed, vertical ; testa crustaceous, often thin with a very thin inner integuraent some- times scarcely distinct. Embryo surrounding' a mealy albumen, the radicle superior lateral or inferior. — Herbs or shrubs, more or less mealy or scaly-tomentose. Leaves alternate or the lower ones rarely opposite, flat, entire hastate or sinuate-toothed. Male flowers in globular clusters, either detached from the females in close or interrupted